Ramifications
by the-Bookworm-Princess
Summary: Someone obviously wasn't thinking ahead when they acted. Response to a challenge.


Title: Ramifications

Spoilers: none

Pairing: none

Summary: This was in response to Challenge #21 on the Special Ops board. It's my first challenge fic, so I hope you like it. :D

Disclaimer: Navy NCIS is the property of Belisaurius, Paramount, DPB, CBS, and all that jazz...The characters just run around in my head all day long, so I put them to work.

* * *

Broken glass crunched underfoot. Kate continued walking and wished that whatever idiot had smashed the beer bottle would clean up the pieces. She made sure that her jacket was zipped up as far as it would go as she walked into the building. She was going to kill Tony. When she stepped off the elevator, she was relieved to see that the team wasn't in the bullpen at that moment. Kate quickly walked over to her desk and sat down in her chair, scooting it under the desk. She grabbed a file and hid her face behind it when she saw her comrades coming.

Saying nothing, the men went to their desks; they thought it strange that Kate didn't greet them as she normally did, but just shrugged to themselves and began working. However, when Gibbs saw Kate's hair, he did a double take; it was in pigtails. After a few minutes, Kate began to grow warm; the jacket was making her entirely too hot. However, she wasn't about to take it off, so she decided to just deal with the heat.

A moment later, Tony piped up, "Kate, can I see the file you read yesterday on Seaman Williams?"

"Can't you come find it? I'm busy." Kate's eyes met his over the top of her folder, revealing her thoughts,_ 'Please…'_

Tony grinned. "No, because I don't know where you put it. Just bring it to me when you find it."

Kate's head dropped and she sighed. She began searching through the stack of files on her desk. Her odd behavior had attracted the attention of Gibbs and McGee, who now watched her with interest. When she found the file, she sighed and shot Tony a mutinous glare. She could no longer stand the jacket and thought, _'What the heck? They're gonna find out sooner or later.'_ She stood, unzipped it, and threw the garment on her desk. She could feel everyone's eyes on her as she strode over to Tony and deposited the file on his desk.

"Thanks." He grinned.

"You're welcome." She smiled wryly.

Kate turned around to face the scrutiny of her other co-workers. The cause of their shocked stares was her outfit. She was wearing a black tank-top, with a red fishnet cover over it, black cargo pants, complete with various chains, and what looked like Abby's army boots. She also had on bright red lipstick.

Returning McGee's gaze with an unflinching one of her own, she stared him down. "You have something to say, McGee?" Her tone warned him of what the wise answer would be.

"Not a thing." He quickly returned his eyes to the case files in front of him.

She turned to Gibbs, who was still staring at her. "Yes, Gibbs?" she asked, not missing a beat.

"Nice pigtails," he answered, with not a hint of humor or sarcasm in his voice.

She nodded and returned to her desk.

When the team broke for lunch, Kate pulled Tony aside on their way to the lunchroom. "I hope you're happy," she hissed.

"Oh, I am," he replied with a huge grin.

She glared at him. "Remind me to never take you up on a bet ever again."

"Oh, come on, Kate. You look good. You don't have it _that_ bad. At least you _like_ the color red. Oh, man, I can't wait until the fingerprint scan is done."

Kate couldn't help but smile in agreement.

During lunch, Tony's cell phone rang. He looked at the caller I.D., grinned, and turned to Kate. "It's Abby." She smiled, and Tony withdrew from the conversation to answer it.

"Yeah?…Hey, don't yell at me; I didn't force you to do it….Did you chicken out?… I didn't think you would, Abby…I know…I'm sorry, but a deal's a deal." He paused for a moment, then laughed. "Kate said the same thing…Alright. Bye."

"Who was that?" Gibbs asked, eyeing Tony curiously.

"Oh, no one." Tony winked at Kate.

Gibbs rolled his eyes and told the team to hurry and finish their lunch.

xxxxxx

An hour after lunch, Gibbs called Abby. "Hey, Abbs, don't you have a fingerprint match yet?… Then why didn't you call?… I'll be down in a minute… What?…Yes, the team is coming with me… Because I said so. …Abby?" He looked at the phone and then returned it to it's cradle, shaking his head. "Abby's got a match and the results from the other tests. Let's go."

The team followed their boss into the elevator, Kate and Tony grinning at each other the whole time. When they stepped out and into the lab, Abby was nowhere to be seen. "Abbs?" Gibbs called over the deafening music.

"I'm over here," came a subdued voice from the other room in the lab. The team walked over and saw Abby in her lab coat sitting on a stool with her back to them. Her hair was down. And were those…high heels on her feet? "Abby?"

_'Just be yourself, Abby,'_ she told herself. She spun around and smiled. "Yes?"

Gibbs saw the pink first. The garment was obviously a halter-top, and the bottom of it stopped mid-thigh, the rest of her legs covered by pantyhose. Now it all made sense. "Nice dress," he said, raising an eyebrow.


End file.
